Very soon, the government of Malaysia will be broke if subsidy is continue to be allocated to reduce prices from sugar to fuel. Revenue collected from corporate and individual taxes will be used to cushion the raising prices of commodities and there will be limited funds to develop the country.
Subsidy should be abolished and let the market demand determine the prices of goods. In turn, the government can provide incentives and better relief to reduce the financial burden of the people.
Subsidizing fuel for example, is only making the electricity providers (like Tenaga National) to earn more profits.
At the same time, the government should be aggressive in improving the public transportation system so that the public do have to user cars to commute. In fact, there is also no control on the number of cars allowed on the roads. More cars means more fuels. The government should also study the implementation of alternative energy to supplement power generators which current relied mostly on natural gas and diesel.
As for public spending, it high time that the government practice prudent spending and not only blaming the people for overspending.
Source: The Star: Subsidy exceeds 9MP spending, says Pak Lah
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Sabah Fisheries being investigated by ACA is just a tip-of-an-iceberg. For months, unscrupulous party including government officials are in collaboration to "export" the diesel to the Philippines for profit instead of selling the diesel at a controlled price to the local fishermen.
ACA cited lack of enforcement in the rising case of exporting the subsidized to oversea parties. RM4 million per month is an average subsidized amount borne by the government for subsidized diesel for Sabah fishermen which are being use by criminals to make easy money for themselves.
The government instead of spending RM4 million a month to help the fishermen, is indirectly giving the money to criminals for free. Don't forget, as a taxpayer, you and me have shares in that RM4 million. All this problem is due to government incompetency in providing half-cooked solution.
Government intention is to help the fishermen, but unable to control the distribution of the subsidized diesel.
As a matter of fact, I have not heard any other countries giving subsidized diesel to their fishermen. Yes, their fishermen are making good catch and good earning.
Obviously, our fishermen like to cruise around the sea instead of catching the real fishes. Probably, that's why they need more diesel.
Extracted from : thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/6/nation/20080406141747&sec=nation (Apr 06, 2008) ACA investigating Sabah fisheries KOTA KINABALU: An 18 million litre per month diesel subsidy scheme for fishermen in Sabah is under probe by the Anti-Corruption Agency. The probe has led to the seizure of a total of 306,000 litres of subsidised diesel in raids in Sandakan and Tawau between Thursday and Saturday. Also impounded were three ships, a tanker, a lorry and a bus from the two east coast towns as the ACA widens its probe into suspected siphoning of subsidised diesel to be sold to foreign fishing vessels and industries. Subsidised diesel from Petronas is sold at a price of RM1 per litre to fishermen through Sabah Fisheries Corporation (Ko-Nelayan) but the diesel has been found to be "resold" at the price of RM1.70. Numerous complaints have been lodged by fishermen over the abuse of the diesel subsidy scheme with the alleged help of syndicates working with "towkays" and local agencies. Confirming the seizure in Tawau and Sandakan, Sabah ACA director Latifah Md Yatim said Sunday that the operations were jointly carried out by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agnecy, Marine Police and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry officials from Putrajaya. "We acted on public information and moved in after monitoring the situation," she said in estimating the total seizure at RM836,880. Latifah, who declined to reveal operational details, said the ACA would be questioning all the relevant people involved in the subsidy scheme. It is understood that Ko-Nelayan under the state Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry has been distributing quotas of subsidised diesel to fishermen holding e-cards throughout Sabah. The lack of enforcement in distribution has led to large amounts of subsidised diesel ending up in neighbouring countries and also local industries. According to estimates, some RM4mil is exchanged a month if the 18 million litres of subsidised diesel at RM1 per litre is sold at a profit of about 50sen per litre.
